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Where do Kids Learn About Pot?
From their friends mostly. But there are a lot of online communities and websites that dedicate themselves to educating people about marijuana and pot culture. Some of these sites answer questions like:How do I find a dealer in my area?
How do I get Marijuana smell out of my clothes?
How do I grow pot?
And some even have diagrams that show how to roll joints.

How Much Does pot cost?
This greatly depends on where you are and the quality of the pot, but the general rule of thumb is:
Joint = $5
Gram = $15
1/8th = $35

Feel free to comment if you think this is different.

When do kids first get exposed to pot?
Earlier than you would think. Usually kids start to hear about other kids doing pot when other students have older siblings or older friends. I always knew about ‘those’ kids that were doing it when I was in 7th and 8th grade and at the start of High School, but was not exposed to it often. By 9th and 10th grade, my friends and I began to see it more frequently at parties, kickbacks and even at after-school hangouts.

Do they know the health effects of pot?
Health classes do let kids know the health, legal and even financial consequences of pot.

Do students smoke pot more frequently in college?
I think yes. I think pot is more common in college because it is easier to get, easier to smoke without parents waiting at home and it is very common. Of course, this is not true for everyone, but many kids begin to smoke in college.

If I know my kid has been drinking alcohol, does that mean they are also smoking pot?
NO, of course not! There are no generalizations like that. Here is a post about pot and alcohol: Pot vs Alcohol: What Are Teens Using?, but in general I do not think the two are tied in any measurable way. Some people only drink, some people only smoke, some do both, some do neither, some smoke socially and never drink.

Is there a lot of peer pressure?
Ahhh, this is a controversial question. I got angry comments on my last post, one by a particular Mr Marijuana who was angry that I was against smoking and said that there was no peer pressure to smoke. I can only speak from my own experience and the experience of my friends. I would say that I did feel peer pressure, but only once I got to college.

Does it lead to bigger drugs? Is it a gateway drug?
In my opinion, no. In fact, I know many people who smoke weed and refuse to drink or do anything else. For the most part, I think that teens will do pot and if they want to try ‘harder’ drugs they probably would have if they had smoked pot or not. The only correlation I have seen, is between pot and mushrooms. I think that many kids who do pot, also try mushrooms later on.

For those of you who have the not-my-kid-syndrome:“My kid is an athlete, so there is no way he is smoking pot”
“She has such nice friends, they are all straight A students, they couldn’t smoke and be doing so well in school”

Some of the smartest people I know (with the highest GPAs) as well as many athletes smoke pot. Sometimes athletes smoke in the off season if they get drug tested (although some people buy ‘clean urine’ for their drug tests–Teens Dealing Clean Urine For Money ) or even during the season by using a vaporizer so it does not effect their lungs.

In the next post, I will be talking about how to talk to your kids about the facts and what to do if you think your kid is already smoking pot.

A Few Additions to my previous pot vocab list for parents:Hotboxing- Going into an enclosed space to smoke so that even what is exhaled is breathed back in.

Fruit Bong- Some people do not use bongs, pipes or joints and very craftily carve a fruit into a smoking device so that the smoke picks up the fruit’s flavor (usually apples, but I have seen a picture of a pineapple before).

Roach- The end of a joint (marijuana cigarette, which has a strong residue of everything that has been smoked before it.